Essential Workers

Community Mural Institute (CMI), Morganton, NC

As part of a 12-member muralist cohort selected for the Community Mural Institute in Morganton, North Carolina, I trained in community-engaged mural making and the indirect polytab method through a program built on collaboration, mentorship, and public participation. The project was sparked by Kathryn Ervin, who reached out to Greta McLain of GoodSpace Murals and Britt Ruhe of Common Wealth Murals. Together, those three women became a powerful force behind the vision, structure, and follow-through that brought the project to life.

Through CMI, we learned that community muraling is about much more than painting. The process included listening sessions, surveys, community engagement, paint-party preparation, studio work, installation, overpainting, and sealing. We projected concept art onto polytab panels, numbered those panels to match selected color palettes, and prepared them for public participation during community paint parties with Burke County residents. After the panels were painted by the community, members of the muralist cohort continued painting and refining them either at TOSS Studio or in our own studios. Once ready for installation, the panels were adhered to the walls, overpainted for visual consistency across the full composition, and then sealed for protection and longevity.

I served on the Essential Workers (Purple) team at 647 Hopewell Road under lead artist Ian Brownlee, alongside Kenjy737 and Neer Perfection. The other two murals created through the cohort were the African American mural at 205 Sterling Street and the Southeast Asian American mural at 101 S. Green Street. Although the purple team was not part of the final installation for those two murals, we played an important role in helping both teams prepare their panels before the paint parties and in supporting the community and fellow artists during the public painting events. That shared labor was part of what made the larger project possible.

What I valued most about this experience was how fully it expanded my understanding of mural-making. CMI taught me not only the technical process of indirect mural installation, but also how much deeper public art becomes when a community helps shape it, paint it, and see itself reflected in it. The project was later featured in newspaper coverage, online features, and documentary film, extending the reach of the work beyond the walls themselves.

Title: Essential Workers: Honoring The Workers Who Help Our Community Thrive
Size: 20' h x 50' w
Site/City: Industrial Commons Building, 647 Hopewll Rd., Morganton, NC
Medium: exterior latex paint, with Nova matte Color Matte gel top coat. 
Materials: Sherwin Williams exterior latex, polytab, gel medium to adhere panels onto building & topcoat.
Date: March 5, 2023 to July 28, 2023